Why things like 1MDB happen: By P Gunasegaram Malaysiakini May 28, 2015 QUESTION TIME Malaysia had no major fi...

By P Gunasegaram Malaysiakini May 28, 2015 QUESTION TIME Malaysia had no major financial scandals – as in billion-ringgit ones – until the infamous case of Bumiputra Malaysia Finance or BMF emerged in the early eighties and captured the imagination of the press and the public. Before we are a bit quick to point the finger at former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad for that, let’s point out that Mahathir became prime minister only in 1981, after BMF, Bank Bumiputra’s wholly-owned Hong Kong subsidiary, started loaning money to George Tan’s Carrian group, eventually amounting to RM2.5 billion in all. The loans were made between 1979 and 1983, which means that loans continued to be made to Carrian even after Mahathir became PM, implying that Mahathir cannot be totally absolved. Carrian was a rising star in the Hong Kong property market then but subsequently went bust, making...